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Title:Classicism and Conservation: A Celebration of Roman Architecture [Forum]

Journal Issue:Places, 14(3)

Author:Darbee, Jeff

Publication Date:2002

Publication Info:Places

Permalink:http://escholarship.org/uc/item/24d179s4

Acknowledgements:This article was originally produced in Places Journal. To subscribe visit www.places-journal.org.For reprint information contact places@berkeley.edu.

Keywords:urban, design, architecture, placemaking, history, modern, rome, american, instutute, committee,jeff darbee

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Places 14.3

Forum / AIA

77

Rome has inspired the world’s archi-tecture for more than two millennia,but not just in building designs. Thecity’s most important lesson is thattoday’s Rome is a living, working city,by no means frozen in time. It hasreached a balance between past andpresent where new and old live com-fortably side by side. Though Ameri-can cities might measure their age incenturies rather than millennia, wecan apply Rome’s lesson at home andseek that same balance.

Rome’s strongest characteristic is thelayering of time and the persistence of the past in urban patterns and thefootprints, fabric and form of build-ings new and old. It is a vastpalimpsest, readable by anyone willingto observe how it has been built, liter-ally and figuratively, on the fragments,ideas and impressions of the past, yetit functions as a livable and vibrantworld capital.

The AIA Historic Resources Com-mittee visit to Rome last springoffered lectures, seminars and visits to

sites of preservation and archaeologi-cal significance, and took up threequestions: What role does classicismhave in an age of cutting-edge design?How do we express our own time in ahistoric environment without dilutingthe significance and integrity of thatenvironment? Can architecture con-tinue to evolve—borrowing from thepast as it has done over thousands of years—or must it continuouslyrevolt and re-invent itself, as it oftendoes today?

The first session explored the rele-vance of the classical tradition at atime in which avant-garde designseeks a break with tradition and archi-tecture must respond to demands ofcommunication, transportation andsustainability that never influencedclassical design.

Classicism and Conservation:A Celebration of Roman Architecture

Jeffrey T. Darbee

The American Institute of Architects Committee on Historic Resources

These forum pages are produced under an agreement

between Places/Design History Foundation and the

American Institute of Architects. This article reports

on the AIA Committee on Design’s visit to Rome,

April 21-26, 2001. The conference chair was Carol

Rusche Bentel, AIA, and last year’s committee chair

was Wendy Evans Joseph, AIA.

For information about AIA membership and upcom-

ing programs, call 800-242-3837 or visit

www.e-architect.com/pia/cod.

The most powerful lingering image of Rome is of

the layering of time and history so evident everywhere

in the city. Photos courtesy Jeffrey T. Darbee

78 Places 14.3

tria, which meant not simply a visualsymmetry, but a balance of interre-lated parts. Westfall described classi-cism as striking this balance, a state ofdynamic tension leading to an archi-tectural equilibrium and the classicalcity as an organic entity composed ofinterdependent parts.

Returning to the first question—whatrole does Classicism have in an age ofcutting-edge design—it is clear thatlearning the lessons of classicism isessential if we are to have architectureand cities that have delight as well asfirmness and commodity. Classicismis more a philosophy than a set offormal visual properties; one does nothave to design Roman temples inorder to practice its principles. Tohave real value for our cities, contem-porary design must help us to build onwhat has come before, enable us torespect the physical context withinwhich new buildings are placed, andcontribute only our best work to acontinuing evolution of that context.

This is where historic preservation isan essential component of moderncity-building. Preservation’s focus hasmoved far beyond an initial concernfor individual landmarks to a broadconcern for quality of life, sustainableurban development and a sensitiveblend of old and new as our citiesgrow and change. Preservation andcontemporary architectural practicecan and do work well together.Preservationists embrace changewhen it results in real improvement ofthe built environment and does notresult in the loss of high-quality olderstructures for low-quality replace-ments. Rome proved an ideal labora-tory for exploration of these issues.

The project at the Ara Pacis, forexample, is currently the subject ofmuch debate, involving both preserva-

During the Rome conference, Historic Resources

Committee members were invited to participate in

a sketch competition in the Imperial Fora along with

the Committee on Design.

In 1932 a new road, the Via dell' Impero (Via dei Fori

Imperiali), was constructed to connect Piazza Venezia

to the Colosseum. This thoroughfare crossed over the

Imperial Fora and its removal is part of discussions

today in order to reconnect the monuments of the

Fora to surrounding artifacts and to the urban fabric.

Participants were charged with the creation of a new

entry and interpretive boundaries for the archaeologi-

cal zone of the Imperial Fora. The competition

sketches were displayed at the American Academy in

Rome and were judged by noted Italian architects

Roberto Einaudi and Laura Thermes.

James W. Rhodes, FAIA (Historic Resources

Committee)

Bill Westfall, chairman of the Schoolof Architecture at the University ofNotre Dame, defined classicism as“the best dynamic balance betweenthe changing and the enduring.” Heinvoked Vitruvius’s “Trilogy of WellBuilding,” which held that buildingsmust possess firmness, commodityand delight. Of these, the first twowere straightforward: A building mustbe built of sound, appropriate materi-als and must accommodate theplanned use.

The question of delight, however,moved the topic of discussion frommere construction into the realm ofarchitecture. Vitruvius defined delightas “reciprocity between context andbuilding” and in this phrase evokedthe essence of classicism: all things arepart of an interrelated whole and goodarchitecture must connect past andpresent. Vitruvius called this symme-

sary, for example, to correct structuraldeficiencies, accommodate modernprogrammatic needs or add needednew square footage. Sometimes it isrequired to correct physical damageand inappropriate work left over frompast restorations. Such work must atthe same time seek maximum preser-vation of significant historic fabric and compatibility with the design con-text that fabric has already established,he said.

Agreeing with Einaudi, Bardeschiexpressed concern over well-meaningrestorations that sacrifice the layers ofhistory that historic buildings acquire.He defined conservation of a structureor a building element as fixing it intime, to “keep the historic documentas it is.” He recognized that budget,programmatic and other considera-tions must be balanced against thisaspect of preservation—sometimesrequiring acts of intervention—but hestill urged great care and sensitivitytoward historic fabric. Bardeschicounseled architects to avoid destruc-tive restoration work that uses false orill-documented assumptions andresults in a dishonest end product.

In answering the second question—how do we express our own time in ahistoric environment without dilutingthe significance and integrity of thatenvironment—Einaudi firmlyexpressed both speakers’ philosophies:“Time has to be in some way recog-nized.” Both made it clear that inter-vention into older buildings andcreation of new ones can complementand enhance conservation efforts butwill be successful only if we keepintact the story of time’s passageembedded in the historic fabric.

In one of the last conference sessions,Jukka Jokilehto, President of theInternational Committee on Training

tion of classical remains and contem-porary urban design issues. The AraPacis (“Altar of Peace”) was erected inAugustan times at an entrance toRome and all arriving travelers had toleave their weapons there. By the1930s the surrounding area haddeclined and, under Mussolini, whatwas left of the original altar wasmoved to its current site, just west ofthe Mausoleum of Augustus along theeast bank of the Tiber, and enclosedin a masonry, glass and metal buildingin a Socialist Deco design typical ofthe period. That building had, in turn,deteriorated (conferees saw its demolition in progress), the Ara Paciswithin having been carefully wrappedin protective coverings and sur-rounded by layers of scaffolding.

Richard Meier’s design for a replace-ment building is the source of thecontroversy. It is clearly contempo-rary but also hearkens back to its 1938predecessor. Even as its constructionproceeds, however, supporters andopponents of the project, both amongthe public and within the Italian gov-ernment, are at loggerheads. Someappear to bemoan the loss of a struc-ture that served as a document of itstime; others object to the creation of anew building that draws little from theclassical landmarks of the surroundingurban fabric.

Other lectures on preservation issueswere given by Roberto Einaudi, prin-cipal of Studio Einaudi in Rome, andMarco Dezzi Bardeschi, of thePolitecnico di Milano. They dealtwith current preservation philosophyand how to achieve the appropriatebalance between intervention andconservation when dealing with his-toric structures.

Using preservation of the Villa Aure-lia as an example, Einaudi discussedthe issues of appropriate restorationperiod and the fate of alterations andaccretions that occurred after originalconstruction. The act of interven-tion—whether restoring historicfabric, removing accretions or build-ing new buildings—might be neces-

79Places 14.3

Forum / AIA

Left: Conferees stood down at original street level

from Classical times as they visited the Mausoleum of

Augustus. This site was close to a river landing where

stone for the Pantheon was unloaded from boats.

Incised into the stone paving here was a building pedi-

ment design described as the "working drawings for

the Pantheon."

Right: The ruins of Hadrian's Villa have been recon-

structed and stabilized in a condition that communi-

cates the scale and grandeur of the place.

80 Places 14.3

decide what’s important to keep.” Heargued that most architects are trainedto believe that it is their right to makesuch decisions; on the contrary, Stovelsaid, it is the culture’s right to do thisand it is the architect’s job to learn thepertinent values before starting work.

In response to the third question—can architecture continue to evolve or must it continuously revolt and re-invent itself—both speakers made itclear that they think architecture mustcontinue to evolve as it always has, bylearning and borrowing from the past.There is room, at the same time, forrevolution and re-invention, a testing of limits and assumptions, but ulti-mately this work is successful only if itdoes not abandon its roots in the past.

What did the conference give us toapply in American cities and towns?

By its nature, architecture is com-pelled to evolve continuously, becauseit is rooted in the technology, tastes,economics and arts of its period. Astime goes on, architecture must

change as its cultural and social con-texts change. This process is bothdestructive and creative, as new formsgrow from old. We can see this intowns across our country, where stylessucceeded one another all through thenineteenth and twentieth centuries.As they did so, however, they drewforms and elements from earlier stylesand they kept one foot firmly plantedin the past even as they moved for-ward. Today our most livable citiesremember this as they grow, establish-ing a lively balance between new andold much as Rome has done. This ishow great cities have always grownand it is how we will create them inthe future.

Jeffrey L. Darbee is a historic preserva-tion consultant with Benjamin D. Rickey& Co. in Columbus, Ohio.

of ICOMOS (the International Com-mittee on Monuments and Sites),noted that the idea of heritage, whichhas an intangible, spiritual compo-nent, has become an integral part ofdecision-making in both historicpreservation projects and in newarchitecture in historic settings. Her-itage has become one of several com-ponents—the others being the built,the natural and the cultural environ-ments—that must work together inany site or setting. This incorporatesthe idea of building on what has comebefore that was such a strong themethroughout the conference.

Herb Stovel, director of the icomosHeritage Settlements Programme,stated that “our job (as architects) isnot to define cultural values withinwhich we work. We don’t get to

Site visits included current archaeological digs in the

Forum, where contemporary techniques take care to

preserve Renaissance and medieval remains as well as

those from the Classical period.